Jokic out and proud: a Garden heist that says more about Denver than Boston

With one of the best players on the planet, Nikola Jokic, sidelined, the Nuggets are compiling an impressive body of work. The month the Serbian center will miss with a twist to his left knee is serving as a physical breather – leaving him fresher than many rivals for the stretch when the title is decided – and the results have not suffered as much as might have been expected. On their Eastern road trip, the signs have been encouraging.

They did struggle in the window between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it is true: four losses in five games. But all of them came on the road, which softens the blow – Orlando, Miami, Cleveland and Brooklyn, with only the last falling outside the norm. In the past two outings, though, they have responded and returned to winning ways. A victory on the Sixers’ floor was followed by another marquee stage: Boston’s Garden, taken by storm, 114–110.

Philadelphia was a momentary sigh of relief because the lineup was makeshift. Murray rested, and Braun and Gordon were also out – which, added to Jokic’s absence, is too much attrition against a Sixers team on the rise. Winning there gave them a psychological lift, especially given how the finish unfolded. But then they went and knocked off the Eastern Conference’s second-place team, the Celtics, on their own court.

Jamal Murray ran the show superbly, dishing out 17 assists and also reaching double figures in scoring. The leading scorer was the athletic Peyton Watson, who poured in 30. On the other side, Jaylen Brown’s 33 points were not enough to carry Boston to victory. Hugo González, for his part, scored three in the 21 minutes he received from his coach.

Denver once again handed a bundle of minutes to Pickett and Nnaji, who had given Adelman exactly what he wanted and delivered again. Alongside two champions such as Gordon and Brown, the focus was on actively finding Tim Hardaway on the perimeter, with the guard knocking down four of his eight three-point attempts. That approach proved decisive against a Celtics team whose ideas were poorly executed. It was deserved.

Without Jokic, the man who dominated the glass was the Portuguese center Queta, who pulled down 20 rebounds. With a 14-rebound gap between the teams, Boston enjoyed more second chances. Or so it seemed. In reality, the teams were level at halftime: the Celtics were four points better in the first quarter, the Nuggets four points better in the second. Mazzulla’s defense – the one González Peña lavishes such care on – unraveled badly, and the Nuggets began to punish from the perimeter. They would finish 20 of 44 from three. Better ball movement, with Murray setting the tempo, created cleaner looks. The supporting cast turned the game in the final period: a 14–0 run in three minutes, and it was over. Watson, Pickett and Nnaji built the Celtics’ coffin, with no response when it mattered most. That was how it all unfolded.

Other results from the NBA:

• Nets 103 - Magic 104
• Knicks 123 - Clippers 111
• Hawks 117 - Pelicans 100
• Sixers 131 - Wizards 110
• Hornets 96 - Raptors 97
• Pistons 108 - Bulls 93
• Blazers 103 - Rockets 102
• Warriors 120 - Bucks 113
• Thunder 129 - Jazz 125
• Grizzlies 98 - Suns 117
• Spurs 107 - Lakers 91

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Boston Celtics

Stats

7 Jaylen Brown
30 Sam Hauser
88 Neemias Queta
11 Payton Pritchard
9 Derrick White
99 Chris Boucher
52 Luka Garza
28 Hugo González
55 Baylor Scheierman
4 Anfernee Simons
26 Xavier Tillman
27 Jordan Walsh

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
7 Jaylen Brown	34	33	7	1	6	4	7	1	0	1/3	10/23	4/6	0	5	0
30 Sam Hauser	29	6	2	0	2	2	2	2	1	0/0	0/0	2/6	0	3	0
88 Neemias Queta	24	6	20	10	10	0	0	0	0	0/0	3/8	0/0	0	3	0
11 Payton Pritchard	33	17	5	3	2	2	0	2	0	6/6	4/7	1/6	0	2	0
9 Derrick White	34	17	4	1	3	4	2	0	3	0/0	4/7	3/12	0	2	0
99 Chris Boucher	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
52 Luka Garza	19	11	5	2	3	0	0	0	0	0/0	4/4	1/1	0	1	0
28 Hugo González	20	3	4	1	3	0	1	0	2	0/2	0/2	1/2	0	1	0
55 Baylor Scheierman	4	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1/2	0/0	0/0	0	1	0
4 Anfernee Simons	25	15	4	3	1	2	2	0	0	0/0	3/5	3/4	0	0	0
26 Xavier Tillman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
27 Jordan Walsh	13	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	1/2	0/1	0/1	0	2	0

Denver Nuggets

Stats

21 Spencer Jones
8 Peyton Watson
14 DaRon Holmes II
0 Christian Braun
27 Jamal Murray
11 Bruce Brown
32 Aaron Gordon
10 Tim Hardaway Jr.
22 Zeke Nnaji
24 Jalen Pickett
3 Julian Strawther
5 Hunter Tyson

Stats

	Min	Pts	TR	OR	DR	Ast	Los	Rec	Blk	S1	S2	S3	RF	CF	Val
21 Spencer Jones	9	2	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	2/2	0/0	0/1	0	0	0
8 Peyton Watson	37	30	6	1	5	2	4	1	2	4/8	4/8	6/7	0	5	0
14 DaRon Holmes II	13	6	2	1	1	1	0	0	2	0/0	0/1	2/5	0	1	0
0 Christian Braun	29	5	5	1	4	2	1	0	1	0/1	1/4	1/1	0	1	0
27 Jamal Murray	36	22	8	4	4	17	2	1	0	3/4	5/9	3/9	0	2	0
11 Bruce Brown	19	4	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0/0	2/5	0/1	0	2	0
32 Aaron Gordon	23	12	6	1	5	2	0	0	0	0/0	3/6	2/6	0	0	0
10 Tim Hardaway Jr.	26	14	2	0	2	0	0	1	1	2/2	0/1	4/8	0	1	0
22 Zeke Nnaji	24	12	2	2	0	1	0	2	2	5/7	2/6	1/3	0	3	0
24 Jalen Pickett	20	7	4	1	3	2	0	0	0	0/0	2/3	1/3	0	0	0
3 Julian Strawther	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Hunter Tyson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0